This is the blog of Nader Elhefnawy, established in October 2008.
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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Skyfall's Release in China

Skyfall has recently come out in China, and the fact grabbed a fair amount of press attention for two reasons.

One is the censorship of the film by Chinese authorities, who, while offering no official comment, have edited out bits of the film referencing aspects of Chinese society they prefer not be publicized - the country's sex trade, the practice of torture by its authorities.

The other is the film's strong earnings, over $34 million in the first seven days of release. Strong performances by foreign films in China (and Russia, Brazil and other such large "emerging markets") are, of course, highly touted by those regarding them as a key scene of the expansion of Hollywood business, but they are also notable for boosting Skyfall's already massive gross to $1.078 billion - so that it not only solidifies the film's status as the highest-grossing Bond film of all time, but, confirming some of the more bullish expectations, makes it certain to overtake The Dark Knight Rises as the second-biggest movie of 2012 (at least, until The Hobbit, only a $140 million or so behind despite its appearing five weeks later).

In the U.S., however, Skyfall's $302 million gross puts it in a distant fourth position, after The Avengers, that final installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy and The Hunger Games (with the continuing earnings of The Hobbit likely to put it in fifth place when the final results are tallied).